Creature Handler Archive
Thread: Sales Griefing and Mounts
Basing my pricing off of the forums, mount availability, customer input and effort involved, I have been selling Cu Pa mounts at 35k, BE Dewbacks at 65k (great stats) and Banthas at 85k (95k w/ innate ability) and any l1 abilities of their choice are included.
I have sold many (no spamming what-so-ever) and made several customers very happy... and they felt it was money well spent (as I seriously RP the transaction). Unfortunately there are a few MCHs that tend to haunt around my location and grief me and my clients... saying that I am ripping them off and selling only to the elite... ???
FTW is up with that? If they can sell them cheaper, then why don't they? Why is it their business how I value my craft? Why do they insist on under-valuing my craft? Why do they think that this is the old days where you couldn't make 100k in space in 1-2 hours???
/endrant
Message Edited by CorbaerTek on 10-06-2005 07:48 AM
I will sell wild L10 mounts for 300-400k, depending on rarity (dewbacks might be even more expensive, since I haven't found a single spawn of these in 6 hours searching).
That will include 4 trained abilities though.
Anyone saying that is too expensive ... great, that is their opinion.
It still won't get them a mount from me, though
I have been a crafter in DAoC for 2 years, and for a year in SWG.
Complaints about prices are what you have to live with ... you can tell you found the right price when the number of people telling you you are ripping them off is equal to the number of people telling you you are price dumping
I really do enjoy getting players hooked up with the mount of their dreams.
But I also believe that you're selling them too low.
I wouldn't grind up any non-CH pet for less than 150k, mainly because my services include not only finding, taming, and grinding up a baby, but also in educating the customer about specials and what they can do for them. Non-CH mounts are not going to be killing machines, but they can be very helpful to the non-CH as a state attack platform.I lay out the options for my client and make recommendations (one state special they don't have in their template, for example, and some defensive robustness in the pet to keep it in the battle)
While new players blanch at this pricetag, experienced players don't hesitate, and for quick turnaround on the order I've received 50k bonuses on top of the 150k price.
There are some pets that CHs have a total monopoly on, and they're some of the most popular: the bantha and the cu pa. Some people INSIST on a bantha, and a dwarf bantha baby is the only option they've got. The fact that we've got to spend time looking for the critter (particularly the dwarf bantha), are braving real dangers to tame them (dwarf bantha babies, in my experience, tend to spawn in the sameneighborhoods as krayts), must use our time to grind them up (Ok, so you can do it in an hour with a CL10 critter, but still...) means that it's going to cost. It's not like the old days were you park the pet on the customer's datapad for five days and then slap the saddle on the little dear.
My prices may be low depending on how you look at it, but it doesn't take me nearly as long to get them to size as the examples given. I get them to mount in about 1.5 hours and that's 2 at a time. 4-5 Faamba lairs and they're rolled 10 times and I get some armor components to-boot.
Then I get the occasional offer (like just happened) where a RP Tusken offered me 1 million...
so it all works out. I just hate that these MCH's grief me and my clientele.
CorbaerTek wrote:
Thanks for the input folks...
My prices may be low depending on how you look at it, but it doesn't take me nearly as long to get them to size as the examples given. I get them to mount in about 1.5 hours and that's 2 at a time. 4-5 Faamba lairs and they're rolled 10 times and I get some armor components to-boot.
Then I get the occasional offer (like just happened) where a RP Tusken offered me 1 million...
Well I can understand your side an the side of the other MCH ... as most have stated here they feel you are selling 2 cheap. What this does is make people think that other MCH are charging 2 much an they the customer are being cheated. As you yourself stated you were offered 1 mill ... ya it works out on your end but this just goes to show you that you are charging far 2 little. To me 35k is just not worth my time.
The way I do it when I want to sell cheap is just let the customer set the price... IE tell them to pay you what they think it is worth... you will be supprised on how much money you make like this. Ya you might get some jerk want to pay you 10 or 20k but this will be well off set by those that pay you a few hundred k ... NO other MCH can complain this way, as you are not getting into a price war with them. Heck I did this just a few weeks back an had a jedi give me 300k for a lvl 3 krevol. All the 300k included was basic commands no abilities an was 1st krevol tamed... lol he even found the pet for me to tame. My favorite response to someone asking me about is this ok or is this enough credits is "whatever ".
if u think he's cheap the don't ask hassle rayinksi on shadowfire
i always ask the client what to make me an offer for mounts as i tame and train for fun and any cash i make (after medical expences) is pure profit. then again, i just sell basic mounts and i'm a master ch and no-one harrasses me saying my prices are too low as i have a product at a price the customer is prepared to pay so i'm happy, my customer is happy and i actually have some customers recommend me to others 
As for asking the client how much it's worth to them. That is horrible. Before I became CH, I had no idea what pets were worth, no idea what made them special, no idea what I should offer. I decided when I picked up CH, that I would never be a jerk and ask someone to make up a number about which they have no background or business making a price. I prefer to offer a fair price for a fair product up front and let the customer decide if it is a purchase woth making. This also leads to good, enjoyable RP, since I have to explain (in character) why a pet/mount is valuable, and sell the client on the purchase. Great fun and fair to everyone.
As for level... I'm no MCH either... I'm a lowly 0104 and the griefing by MCHs who can't be bothered to do non-ch stuff, but would sell for peanuts if they did still just gets my wookie fur all itchy and irritated. F'ing jrks.
PS: My level contributes to the price... I can't train everything and only have L1 abilities... L2/L3 abilities will be at a premium, and as I reach master, my base prices will raise appropriately.
....of course there is the more peaceful and reasonable method of ignoring them, jus turn ur cheek........but how much fun would that be?.......hehe
I agree your prices are too low remember when you sell pets at that price you not only hurt yourself but you hurt others.
1. You create the conception that these items are cheap so when a ch tries to sell his wares because of your antics he gets called a ripoff artist and worse maybe banned from a player city or marked for further greifing from other players for a perceived scam.
2. When those chs cant sell their wares or dare not try for the perceived backlash to ensue. That means fewer mounts for players to have, and thats just sad. Your low cutting in effect makes it unprofitable for any other ch to do sell his or her wares. Time is money and if you have to sell mounts at a substantial loss you dont sell mounts. This just hurts your community.
3. Your selling subpar merchandise I wouldnt sell a player a half finished gun as a weaponsmith and I wont sell a player a half finished pet. This generates more misconceptions that these things arent worth haveing. If you sold fully prepared pets and instructed the player in proper use you would actually help the ch community. It would generate interest in our profession and it would help to make more players aware of what our pets can be used for to help them in their fighting.
In my oppinion the others chs are right to give you grief not only are you undercutting hard working people like a common scab. Your also scamming your clients by not selling them quality merchandise. Clients that are woefully unaware of how subpar the merchandise is. In the end though your hurting them yourself and the community. What you need to do is stop selling half finished pets. Next you have to change your prices accordingly. A pet on base math should go for 300 to 400k. If you cannot sell the pet you can then mark it down to over 200k and thats it. If it dosent sell hold on to it till you find a buyer. Roleplay is fine but your roleplaying the wrong way.
How to sell and roleplay if your into roleplaying. You set the price for the pet higher then you think its worth and then you let the player haggle you down. Remember your roleplaying a merchant your trying to make a profit. In this case what you could make doing missions plus a little extra for your time spent learning the abilities. You deserve the payday. Then once a price is set then you get to roleplay the trainer say things like it looks like you have a hard time finding holes in enemy armor perhaps your pet could be taught to do that for you.
In the end doing what your doing is going to hurt you the most. Remember if your in a guild your conduct reflects on your guild. When you hurt people you make enemies and those enemies will look for an opportunity to put it to you. What happens when someone talks to your guild leader about what your doing, and say that guildleader is told it will cost his or her guild something they need say backup in pvp or a chance to partake of large events. Your guild leader is not going to be happy about what your doing. Your guild might find itself banned from cities might find people less eager to do business with it. If you are unguilded you may find people not willing to guild with you. You might find yourself banned from player cities and the shops they provide and the shuttles they have. You might find yourself passed up for groups you might find it hard to make friends in game.
In other words what your doing is wrong and you should stop doing it.
According to one MCH who is the most nefarious and vocal griefer, it's "disgusting how I am providing mounts only for the elite".
She happens to think that no non-ch mount is worth of 50k fully trained w/ a L3 ability.
I am charging more than most of the CHs I have dealt with on my server... In fact I just got an email from a player who was offered a BE Dew for 10k, and thinks I ripped him off.
I believe that for my server's economy I am charging an appropriate price... so please stop acting like I am hurting you... 150k is WAY TOO MUCH for a cl10 mount... 95k with innate for the sometimes elusive bantha (took a handful of days to find, and then got 5 in one day) is fair compared to the 50k that the uber-MCHs seem to think I should sell them at.